If you're looking for encouragement, Barnes-Thompkins and Milon played well. Eli Carter did not and he still had a few of his ridiculous shots that he chucked before anyone in a BC jersey could be close to the basket for a rebound.
One more pain point: Conte was filled with orange.
There has been a lot of piling on by the Boston Media this week, so I will try not to make it worse today. Hopefully this team does something right before the season ends.
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29 comments:
Milon is really a good 3 pocket shooter. He had 25 and was 5-7. He really has a smooth left handed stroke.
Milon is the perfect guy to have against a zone, to bad the Cuse is the only zone team we played. We had the right game plan today, operate through the hi post w/ Clif., just not enough good players.
Feel for the guys today. This game was a lot closer than the final score would indicate. Cuse hit a barrage of 3s that rattled in either with hands in their faces or from a few feet behind the line. Easily could have missed 3-4 of them which would've put BC in it right at the end.
I was encouraged that there was a real offensive game plan to attack the zone. Led to a lot of layups and open 3s.
I'm sure teams are starting to overlook us given the terrible record, but I'm optimistic that they can put it together and win a few down the stretch.
Christian has to go. If anyone has seen the stands for Marquette to Providence, BC should be ashamed to have sunk this low. Bates reply to Buckley in Boston H shows how out of touch he is. Mid Major people over their heads. Leahy should have heads roll! Ever to excel my ...!
Stands have been that way since Tyrese's last year (the last tournament team). It's going to take a sustained period of success to rebuild the culture and bring the fans back. Part of me says the students should be packing the stands and giving the team the needed boost, but it's tough to blame them for staying in on a freezing day with a team that's 0-for in the ACC.
The "Christian has to go" people are so out of touch and have zero perspective. You realize that Ed Cooley was a mid major hire at Providence (your example) right ? Your argument of "mid major people over their heads" is just wrong. He needs time. A bigger name hire would make the rebuild happen quicker, but this administration has proven it won't spend for athletics.
As for the attendance, what do you expect ? This team has yet to win in conference and has sustained a long period of down seasons because of Donahue. The above poster is right, its going to take a few seasons of positive results (even just getting to .500 would go a long way) to regain any type of culture
And don't expect to ever see the type of crowds that Providence draws, they're a total anomaly. PC gets a ton of non-alumni from the Providence area who were around during the Pitino/Billy D/Ernie D days who still show up to games. Even when PC stunk under Tim Welsh and Keno Davis, they still drew good crowds. Because of BC's perception in the Boston market and a ton of people who actively dislike the school (because of its academic selectivity) they will never gain the casual sports fan. Being in a major city means that people from all over live there (thus the huge Cuse turnout today) and a number of different collegiate affiliations exist. When BC had things rolling under Skinner, they struggled to average over 7,000 people, Providence somehow averages 10,000 a game even when they stink.
Unknown is right. 'Nuff said
I have 70 years 15 immediate members of my family as alumnae. My perspective is not "unknown". Hockey gets turnout? Right? I've been to many sold out games at Conte. ACC and Big East. Your reasoning is why we kept Donahue and Spaz. We had the coaches salary covered but as usual Athletic Dept messed that up? I'm not hiding my feelings under a pseudonym. If you want to go deep talk to anyone at NMH and see why no one came to BC. Christian has burned bridges. Bates was a bad hire w no accomplishments. Give me one statistical measure of success outside of hockey. Enuf said...
Hockey gets turnout ? Arguably the most successful hockey program in the country the last 25 years, and one of the most accomplished of all time, doesn't even draw at the top of the conference in attendance. In fact, this year they're 11th in the country and only have a 66% capacity filled %. This is my point exactly. In a hockey crazy city and state, the best collegiate program in said city/state can't fill 3/4 of its stadium.
My reasoning has nothing to do with why we kept Spaz or Donahue and you don't have any perspective. My reasoning is based solely on numbers, numbers that say even when BC is good, their is a threshold that each program will reach attendance wise. With basketball it's probably ~7,000. With hockey it's probably around ~5500. With football it's probably around 40,000. All of these are based on hard data and demographics (and the reason why BC should seriously consider downsizing its facilities in any future facility work while making more luxurious and fan friendly).
But whatever I guess take your 70 years of perspective and keep whining for BC to fire a coach 1 year into his job with a team of freshman, you're probably right, that shouldn't set things back even farther.
Joe, the hockey attendance, at 5,235 on average, isn't far off your ~5,500 number. Point taken that it should be higher. The turnout Friday against Merrimack was weak, at 4,563. Student turnout was anemic. Maybe half the seats behind the east goal were filled with students and much less at the other side. Even the Pep Band turnout was not good. We really should draw better for hockey. We draw the vast majority of our students from the northeast and that's a hockey hotbed. I think your 7,000 and 40,000 numbers for attendance for good BC teams are accurate, but it'll be a while before we approach them.
In a weird, sick, abused BC fan kind of way, I am secretly rooting for the 0-fer in hoops to match football's incompetence. Epic fails of that magnitude at least prompt change.
91, Football will come back quickly with moderate success, just as we saw in hear 1 and 2 of Addazio. Once there is a little juice in the program people will begin to show up again. I think a lot of it is the nature of the sport and it being more of an all day social gathering/event held on a limited # of days per year (not to mention the most popular sport in our country).
The hockey figures are honestly puzzling to me considering all the success the program has had, but again, I think goes a long way in really showing the type of market BC is in and that there is a top end in regards to attendance. I personally think it is much more healthy to sell out a 5500-6000 seat arena nightly then have 60% capacity in an 8,000 seat arena
I agree that basketball is a longer build, but crowds will improve once this team starts winning.
The crowd thing isn't rocket science. They will come when the program's start to win and are fun to watch. Can't blame anyone for not wanting to go out to Conte to watch the product this year.
We are now in yr 5 of post Skinner futility. I think we are in over our heads in this, the best college basketball league ever put together. Every one of our In league losses so far has come against a team that can make a good case to be in the tourney. This will be the same next year and every year. The move we made to the ACC for the football $, was one we needed to make, but I fear it has driven a stake through the heart of our once proud hoops tradition. I know it's fantasy, but I think we could compete nicely in the NBE, but not this league.
You guys all have fair points. As a long time fan, I just see a trend where we might have another generation of BC alumnus who fail to experience the thrill and pride of athletic success. I know anecdotal stories don't make data but here are two actual points of interest.
1. Last year when the BB alumnae had their reunion after the ND trouncing. Neither Christian or a member of his staff showed up to address the former players. Very bad form. ND waited outside the meeting to talk to one person about their son, a top NE prospect.
2. When the BC Club of Boston calls after Brown leaves and asks to send someone to come address the concerns to the Alumnae, call back not weeks later. This is your hometown fan base.
It's hard to get new facilities when no one cares. If no one shows it also means no one is giving.
I don't know the specifics to these stories, so I don't think its pertinent to dig into them too deeply (of course to the type of people who read ATLs blog they seem bad, but who really knows the specifics).
In re: to the Christian stuff, I don't follow the basketball program closely enough to say anything definitive. I do know that Spinelli has good relationships with much of the Northeast, and that assistants are the primary contact in recruiting. I'm not going to look at a few guys from NMH as a representation of anything, especially in basketball where AAU matters and the prep schools are largely meaningless.
As for the fundraising issue, I think Bates understand where the real value is, focusing on select high net worth alums to donate for large projects like facility upgrades. The people that go to a BC Alumni Club event are still buying tickets and donating what they can regardless, it's just simply not a priority. There's only so many places Bates can be at one time.
Joe,
Bates doesn't have to call but someone has to.
Spinellli doesn't have to show but someone does.
I guess AAU kids don't go to prep schools and we lost out on 3 NMH recruits. ND has a large group of NE prep school kids.
I guess there are no HNW members on BC Club.....
Joe
Fwiw, the prep schools are definitely not meaningless, particularly the open-gym runs in the fall.
Atl said "there has been a lot of piling on by the Boston Media this week". Other than the account of some brief contact with Bates in the Herald (which was pretty tame) - what else has there been? I would love to see some piling on by the Boston media - at least it would show interest and put a little heat on some adults at BC who are highly paid enough to respond to it.
I'll pile on. There's an article in the Atlanta paper (premium site-but you get 4 free articles a month) about Al Skinner and his team at Kennesaw State, his time at BC, etc.
http://www.myajc.com/news/sports/college-basketball/kennesaws-skinner-working-to-prove-a-point/nqQYG/?icmp=ajc_internallink_referralbox_free-to-premium-referral
Jerome you keep bringing up a few kids from one prep school in Christians first year. I think you're reading a bit to much into the apparent NMH situation. As for ND, they've pulled who, Colson (BC would never have a chance there for obvious reasons) Connaughton and Auguste. So two guys from a fairly populated basketball area. Can you blame a kid for leaving the area after the years under Donahue ? I don't really get why you are fixated on ND, but you realize that ND has a strong brand/reach nationwide, especially in the Northeast (Boston, NY, Northern NJ and has a superior academic standing and facilities. They will be a player for kids around here, it is what it is.
The bottom line is, AAU does matters far more (despite open gym or whatever was mentioned above). Perhaps me saying prep is meaningless was wrong, but AAU holds priority, so I'm not going to sweat an apparent "burned bridge" at NMH as meaning anything (not to mention this is just coming from your mouth so who knows what the reality is). Also, who is the 3rd kid that BC apparently burned a bridge with at NMH besides Falzon and Sharma ? (Because nobody else was offered as far as I can tell, so maybe your "inside info" isn't all that accurate).
Common knowledge, if you know so much tell me whether or not this 3* point guard has signed his papers?
Good points Joe about ND - as much as I hate the buggers - I wish BC would try to emulate them as much as possible. ND is good in just about everything they do whether its academics or athletics (putting aside some recent scandals - as we had a few of our own over the years). You'd think the Jesuits would get fired up about allowing their largest institution fall behind something run by the Congregation of the Holy Cross in some third rate midwestern town.
According to the latest Lunardi Bracetology, every team we've lost to in ACC play is in the dance, plus Lville. Not surprising a team w/ 8 freshman would be w/o a league win facing that kind of competition. Blame JC if you want, but it seems to me the deck has been stacked against him since day 1.
From a recent Boston Globe sports column:
"It is hard to fathom the sorry state of the Boston College athletic program at this hour. The Eagles still have a great hockey team (they just won one of the best Beanpots ever), but football and basketball have hit rock bottom.
Much-maligned Al Skinner looks pretty good to BC hoop fans at this juncture. The Eagle cagers are on track to be one of the worst teams in ACC history. Football, meanwhile, is a mess. The Eagles are winless in the ACC in both sports thus far this academic year.
It’s amazing that a school as hot and attractive as BC can’t land more top recruits. Lucky for BC, local sports fans don’t seem to care about it too much anymore. It’s as if they’ve given up."
Nappy
I'm a stockbroker, when articles of this type hit the press, it's usually time to buy.
CT
Finally got around to reading the piece about Al. Thanks for sharing it. The guy is just a class act all the way.
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